Afraid of Worms
by Kasumi-koi Kitty
Summary: After the match between Kaijo and Touou at the Inter-High, Kise and Aomine don't know how to deal with the other, and they start to wonder about their feelings. NOT ANGSTY. AoKise Oneshot. Rated T because Aominecchi says a naughty word or two.


**Kasumi-koi Kitty: Hello, everyone! I am here with my first KnB fanfic! It's a oneshot. My favorite couple is, obviously *drumroll*… AoKise!**

**Kise: Yay! About me and Aominecchi~**

**Aomine: Hah? Why do I have to be with that annoying guy?**

**Kise: You're so cruel to me, Aominecchi…D':**

**Kasumi-koi Kitty: Please do review (positively or negatively) and feel free to make suggestions or requests. Also, please point out any typos or grammar mistakes or misspelling you find; I would really appreciate it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke. The entire first section of this is, in fact an adaptation of the end of episode 25 of the anime, and therefore I do not own the dialogue or the actions which the characters choose to do. I also do not own the characters or facts about them. I apologize for anything that is not in character or that is incorrect. ONWARD!**

Kise POV

The squeaking of his shoes against the gym floor sounded like the cries of a creature injured. The muscles in his legs were screaming. As he struggled to get to his feet, Kise realized his legs just couldn't take anything more. He'd given them a hard enough time when copying Aomine, and they would no longer support his weight on their own.

Kise punched the gym floor in frustration. He could see Aomine out of the corner of his eye, staring at him. His team was staring at him. An entire gym of spectators was staring at him, watching as his defeat became final and his embarrassment complete. He ducked his head to avoid their eyes.

A hand came into his line of vision, an offering of help.

_Aomine?_

But no, it was Kasamatsu. Of course Aomine wouldn't be the one to help him up; he was a failure. An enemy. A loser.

"Can you stand?" Kasamatsu asked. "Hang in there a little longer."

"Senpai, I…" Kise responded, an apology dancing on the edge of his tongue, but the tears closed up his throat and he could only squeeze his eyes shut as his captain helped him off of the floor, still filling his mind with encouraging words.

"Are you sure you don't need to say anything?" Kise heard someone say. "Isn't he your former teammate?" Eagerly, Kise strained to hear Aomine's answer.

"Eh? I'll even get pissed at you if you make fun of me. There's nothing for a winner to say to a loser."

Kise woke up to his alarm in a cold sweat. Breathing a bit heavily, he reached out and tapped the button on his clock which would stop the alarm and rolled back over. It was a Saturday. He must have forgotten to turn off his alarm.

_That dream again..._he thought. _I wish I could just leave it behind me._

Kise hadn't seen Aomine since their match at the Inter-High. The longer he spent away from his former teammate, the less ashamed he felt and the more heartbroken he became.

I hadn't taken Kise long to realize that turning off his emotions and simply deciding not to admire Aomine anymore was not an option. It took him a little longer to realize that his feelings may have surpassed admiration long ago.

Kise felt a twinge of pain in his heart. It didn't matter what he felt for Aomine anymore. He hadn't been able to win the game for his team, despite how hard everyone worked and how much everyone supported him. Worst of all, he had let down his beloved Senpai.

No, that wasn't quite the worst. The worst thing of all was how he had fallen in Aomine's eyes. The other boy must have expected more of him, and how he had disappointed.

_I'll never play one-on-one with Aominecchi again._

Kise shook the thought away and got out of bed. He didn't have any modeling work today, and he needed a distraction. He decided to treat himself to some shopping.

To forget about Aomine, of course.

Aomine POV

Much later in the day, Aomine woke up. He rolled out of bed and stretched, yawning. He grabbed his basketball from his bedroom floor and began spinning it on one finger as he walked into his kitchen to get something to eat.

"Ah…so tired," he mumbled to himself, putting the basketball down to get a piece of bread from the fridge. He put the bread in his mouth and walked into his living room. He clicked on the television and resumed spinning his basketball.

He choked in his bread and dropped his basketball when a certain blonde model popped up on the screen.

Luckily, it was only a commercial he was modeling in, so it passed quickly, and of course he caught the ball with his foot and popped it back up so he could resume spinning.

Kise had been on his mind since their match. Honestly, the blonde had always been there by his side during middle school, kind of hovering around him and chattering in his ear most of the time. The problem with Kise was Aomine didn't know exactly what to call him. He wasn't a friend, because his only real friends were Momoi and Kuroko, and he didn't feel about Kise the way he felt about them.

Due to the fact that Aomine's parents were rarely around, Momoi was that voice in the back of his head telling him right from wrong, and Kuroko was that person who would always believe he was a good guy deep down. But Kise… Kise was a different matter altogether.

One thing he knew was this: if he had truly found Kise annoying, he wouldn't have let him stick around. Therefore, Kise was special to him, but how? It pissed him off to think about it, but he hadn't been able to think about anything else since he last saw the blonde model.

Of course, it didn't really matter how he felt about Kise. Kise definitely hated him now, after he ruthlessly beat him at the Inter-High and then watched his struggle without so much as a kind word. But what could he say that wouldn't sound condescending? 'I know you gave it your all, but I still won, so sorry'?

_He won't be asking to play one-on-one with me anymore, huh?_ he mused.

One other thing kept popping up in his mind, the image of that captain of Kise's. The guy had helped Kise up and reassured him. Only a teammate could have done so, and that was why Aomine had kept silent. That and his pride, of course.

Aomine's text tone went off and knocked him from his thoughts. He walked over to check his phone, grumbling.

**hey, Dai-chan~! I'm going to Maji Burger with Tetsu-kun today and I wanted to know if you would come. I'm just so nervous! .**

It was from Momoi. Normally, Aomine would turn it down, but he really needed a distraction today, so he accepted. He dropped his basketball and went back to his room to change.

Kise POV

It had been a nice day at the mall, but Kise hadn't bought anything. He was content to just walk around and think about anything but—well, he didn't want to think about that anymore.

Eventually, Kise had gotten hungry, so he had decided to stop in Maji Burger for a bite to eat. Now, as he turned to go back to his table with his tray, he stopped in his tracks.

Why was Aomine here? Barely even registering Momoi's presence, and obviously failing to notice the very unnoticeable Kuroko, he stared at the person who had been plaguing his thoughts for the past several days.

After a moment, people in the restaurant began turning to look at Kise, who stood stock still in the middle of the eatery. When Aomine turned and saw him as well, his azure eyes widening, Kise felt the tears threatening to come.

_It's happening again_, he thought. _They're all staring at me! I'm so embarrassed._

Kise left his tray at a random, empty table and ran to the bathroom. Once inside, he went to the sink and splashed his face with cold water lightly. He was just starting to calm down when the door opened and in came none other than Aomine.

Was he here to mock Kise? Maybe Kise was truly insignificant to him and he was simply there to use the restroom.

_Or maybe_, a hopeful little voice in Kise's heart suggested. _He's here for another reason._

"A-Aominecchi!" Kise flashed his model smile. "Hello there. It's nice to see you."

"Kise," Aomine's face was stone serious, as it so often was anymore. "You don't have to run away from me."

"Run away from you?" Kise laughed, but it sounded unconvincing even to him. "Why would I do that, Aominecchi?"

"Kise-"

"Well, I have to go back and eat or my food will get cold." Kise walked past Aomine and went for the door. "See you later!"

He tugged on the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. He tried again, but it had the same effect.

"Um," he turned sheepishly to face Aomine. "It's locked."

Aomine POV

"Good." Aomine crossed his arms. "Now we can at least talk this out."

"Talk what out, Aominecchi?" Kise asked innocently. "I don't know what you mean."

"You know what I mean," Aomine said flatly. "Look, I'm not the type of guy to talk about his feelings or shit like that, but you always followed me around in Teiko, and now you're running away from me over one basketball game. What about all the games we played together?"

"But Aominecchi thinks I'm pathetic, now," Kise mumbled. "You said I was a loser."

"You lost," he explained bluntly.

"See?" Kise was flustered now. "You think I'm a loser, and all the others think I'm less than them, and even Kurokocchi avoids me. But the one I tried really hard with was you. I tried to show you what I was made of, and I did. I guess I am a loser, but I won't be bullied by you, Aominecchi!"

Aomine couldn't help but admire Kise's beauty in that moment. Of course, Aomine had always acknowledged Kise's good looks. He was a model, after all. Aomine had seen Kise smiling for a camera, smiling honestly, and crying like a baby. He had never, however, seen Kise truly angry and standing up for himself. Aomine had always thought Kise to be sort of a doormat who would blindly follow him around forever. God knew he had given Haizaki enough chances.

Yet the Kise who was putting his foot down was undeniably attractive to Aomine. There was a certain fire in his honey-golden eyes.

It reminded him of when Kise played basketball.

Ah, so that was how he felt about Kise.

"Kise," he muttered, taking a step closer to his former teammate. The name had never sounded to his ears quite like it did then. Before he was even really aware of what he was doing, his lips were on Kise's and the blonde was making a noise that Aomine wanted to hear more often.

Kise pushed Aomine off and fumbled with the door. Somehow, it now opened. Kise turned to Aomine before he left, that fire in his eyes blazing.

"Don't make fun of me, baka Aominecchi!" he shouted indignantly before running out of not only the bathroom but the entire restaurant.

Aomine smirked after him. Honestly, he had surprised himself by accepting his feelings for Kise so easily. He had always gone on and on about Horikita Mai and boobs, after all. But liking another guy didn't feel _gay_, exactly, at least not the way he had imagined gay emotions to feel. Realizing he liked Kise just felt…well, it felt like nothing had changed.

He supposed nothing had.

Kise POV

Kise was running down the street as fast as possible, eager to get home. His face was blazing; he could feel it. Why had Aomine kissed him? Would he really go so far just to make fun of him?

He stopped when he spotted a street basketball court. Hadn't he played here with Kuroko and Kagami once? After a moment's thought, he took off his jacket and draped it over a bench, stepping onto the court. There was an orange basketball just sitting there on the ground; someone must have forgotten it.

Hesitantly, Kise walked over and picked up the familiar object. He dribbled it.

Before he knew it, Kise was shooting hoops and dunking and dribbling up and down the court, playing out all of the confusion and frustration and hurt of the past few days, including his match against Aomine.

Basketball had caused some of his pain, so of course basketball would heal him. It had become the center of his life starting on that day when a ball had clunked him on the head, and despite everything, he still loved it.

Aomine POV

Kise's basketball was beautiful, like him. Aomine stood with his hands in his pockets, watching Kise play on the street court. The blonde hadn't gone far, and it was really a predictable place to find him.

Momoi and Kuroko hadn't even asked him where he was going, so he had just gone. They would be fine together, anyway.

He watched Kise's fluid movements with vested interest. The copycat of the Generation of Miracles was constantly improving, always learning. But he needed other people to learn from.

Aomine stripped off his jacket and placed it next to Kise's on the bench, approaching the blonde. Kise turned when he saw him and ceased dribbling. Aomine held his hands up and Kise passed him the ball swiftly. The rough leather felt good against Aomine's skin.

"Play me?" he asked, but Kise shook his head. He was looking at the pavement rather than at Aomine, and this made Aomine frown.

"Just quit teasing me." Kise's voice shook, and Aomine sighed.

"I'm not teasing you, Kise."

"Yes you are!" Kise glared up at him through his long eyelashes. "_I_ was always chasing _you_. You never even paid attention to me, for all my don't say you're serious."

"I am serious," Aomine insisted. "Geez, Kise, you really think I never paid attention to you? You followed me around all day every day. How could I not pay attention to you?"

Kise didn't answer. He simply looked back to the blacktop and crossed his arms. Aomine sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shoving the basketball under his arm.

"You're afraid of worms," he said, and Kise looked up at him, honey orbs narrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"I said you're afraid of worms, Kise," Aomine growled. "You add –cchi to the ends of the names of people you respect and you add –ssu to the end of a lot of your sentences. You're a Gemini, as Midorima always reminded you, and you love to sing karaoke. You have two older sisters, and one of them got you into modeling, but I can't remember exactly which one. The only style you could never copy is mine, until now. You always liked flying and thought maybe you would have been a pilot if not a model. You can smile almost no matter what, but your real smile looks different from your model smile. You're prettier than most of the girls I know, even though you don't have boobs. Finally, I used to take you for granted but now I know you won't follow me around forever so I have to do something like this."

Aomine watched as Kise's beautiful eyes filled with tears, and he sighed. One crystalline drop of liquid spilled off of his dark lashes, and then he broke down into sobs. But he was smiling with all he had, and it was real.

Aomine reached out and hugged Kise's head to his chest. The other boy gripped the front of his shirt and continued crying.

"You were always chasing me, but look who came to see _you_," he muttered. "This time, anyway. Now quite crying, Kise! You big crybaby."

Kise lifted his face from Aomine's chest to look up at his old teammate. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were shining. Aomine stared.

"Ne, Aominecchi," he began, and a smirk began creeping up the side of Aomine's face.

"Eh?" Kise began to move closer, and Aomine closed his eyes. Just before their lips touched, Kise whispered one last thing to him.

"Go one-on-one with me."


End file.
